St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-06-09
THE RESOLUTIONS.

Senator Bowen reported from the COM
mittee on resolutions the following:
Whereas, The system of transportation
heretofore practiced by common carriers is
built upon an unnatural basis, favoring few
localities with low rate of transportation and
imposing a proportionate high rate upon
other localities; and,
Whereas, Such system is destructive of
that general distribution of wealth and pros
perity which should characterize common
wealth founded on the equal rights and priv
ileges of free people; and,
Whereas, All common carriers should be
bound to respect the rights of the public
without distinction of persons or localities;
therefore,
Resolved, That we, the Business Mems AS
sociation of Minnesota, demand a radical re-
form in the system of railroad transportation
heretofore practiced. We declare that the
which knows no favoritism and grants no
special favors and privileges to any persons
or localities; that rates of transporta-
ton should be. based pro rata
upon distance and amount of prop
erty transported, and without any
reference whatever to terminal points or job
bing centers. No locality should be recog-
nized by special transportation rates as the
commercial property of any jobbing or manu-
featuring center.
Resolved, That we are in favor of an abso-
lutte enforcement of the interstate commerce
law regulating common carriers, and that we
are emphatically opposed to any suspension
of the section generally known as the long
and short haul clause.
Resolved, That we respectfully call the
attention of the railway and warehouse CON-
mission of this state to the freedom of
traffic" law. and ask that said commission in
revising the schedule of rates adopted and
published by the several lines of roads which
connect with other lines leading to Duluth,
see to it that such lines of road comply with
said law, and that no unreasonable or un-
just transfer charges be allowed, to the end
that the people of Minnesota be not de-
frauded of its rights or excluded from the
markets OF Lake Superior by unjust arrange
ments between connecting lines of road
Resolved, That Lake Superior, to the north
and east of us, and the Mississippi river
leading south, are natures great highways,
and that any law or discrimination or any
suspension of law, or any combination of
capitalists, localities or politicians which
shall attempt to deprive the inland towns
and cities of our state of untrammeled access
to these waterways, upon reasonable terms
and without unju discrimination, will meet
with severe condemnation at our hands.
Resolved, That the proper basis for fixing
charges for the transportation of persons
and property over the railroads of the coun-
try should be such an income as will pay,
above operating expenses a reasonable in
terest on the actual cost Of the road and its
rolling stock: and that whenever the income
of any road shall amount to more than these
there should be reduction of rates for such
the production of dividends, or for
paying interest on ''watered stock"
or for influencing legislation amount
to extortion. When railroads impose upon
the toiling masses and the business interests
of the country burden of taxation amount
ing to millions of dollars for the purpose of
paying dividends upon fictitious capital, they
become the masters and not the servants of
the people, and such an exercise of unwar-
ranted power should not be allowed to exist
an instant longer than is necessary for its
prompt abolition. We call upon the railroad
commissioners to assist in the investigation
of this matter, SO that a reliable estimate NAV
be established of the actual capital invested
in the railroads in the country.
Resolved, That we recognize st. Paul,
Minneapolis and Duluth as points at which,
with just and reasonable privileges, the bust
ness interests of this almost limiiless empire
will naturally center, and Duluth as the port
at which land transportation should cease
of all commodities seeking transportation
establishment of freight rates by railroad
companies, SO exhorbitant as to prohibit
transportation over natural channels to these
localities, and compelling them to seek an
outlet hundreds of miles away at distant
lake port, is a crime against the people, and
we demand as right rigid enforcement
by the properly constituted authorities of
all laws in the interest of the people, to the
dens upon the products of labor and of CAPT
tai, and upon the full enjoyment of com
mercial relations, shall be presented, and the
whole people be thus enabled to enjoy all the
rights and privileges to which natural posi-.
tions SO justly entities them.
Resolved, That anything less than the full
and unequ1vocal concession of these Just de-
mands of our rights would be travesty upon
justice, and that those who perpetrate these
wrongs and those who, having the power to
prevent them, shall suffer such wrongs to
exist, are alike deserving of our unqualified
condemnation; and to the overthrow of
these wrongs, which are impoverishing our
people. depopulatng our rural districts and
driving our manufacturing and other bust
ness enterprises to distant and unnatural
great business centers-if suffered longer to
exist-we pledge our most determined oppo-
sition and our persistent and increasing
labors.
Resolved, That while terminal railroads
and union depots are of undoubted benefit,
they should be owned only by the stock.
holders of the different roads using them,
and not by ring composed of managers
thereof, who can vote to themselves large
percentage of the income of said roads as a
rental therefor, because when thus owned
they are as much of a parasite as a fast
freight line. j. M. BURLINGAME,
t. E. Bowen,
JOHN T. AMEs,
w. Il. BAKER,
j. E. CuILDs,
Committee.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
At the meeting this afternoon Gen.